THE new principal of New College says she is keeping an open mind over any potential merger with Swindon College.

But Carole Kitching, who has joined the college from London’s Lewisham Southwark College, said governors at New College had ruled out the merger.

After just a week in the top job at the Queens Drive college, she told the Swindon Advertiser: “The governors of the college have been clear that they’re not in favour of a merger with Swindon College at this time.

“You can never say never. Circumstances change, sometimes there are benefits to mergers and there are always risks.

“I have an open mind [to a merger with Swindon College], but I have definitely not been brought in to do a merger.”

After graduating with an English degree, Mrs Kitching taught English as a foreign language in Greece. She sold her language school and moved to Oxfordshire in the mid-1990s after meeting her husband abroad. Her career in further education started at Abingdon and Witney College, before she moved into leadership roles in Scarborough, Newcastle and London.

Last year, Mrs Kitching found herself in hot water with the University and College Union when she oversaw the merger of Lewisham Southwark College with colleges super-group NGS. At the time, it was proposed almost 60 jobs would go, a move the UCU said would “jeopardise the college’s ability to provide high quality education for the community”.

But she turned the college, which had received two damning Ofsted reports in a row, around. By the end of last year, Lewisham Southwark College was scoring among London’s top colleges.

Asked about her experience of the Southwark merger, Mrs Kitching said focusing on communication with staff and students was key. She added: “You need to have a clear vision of why you’re doing the merger.”

At New College, the new principal said her focus will be on improving the reputation of the sixth form offer and new apprenticeship degree courses that allow students to work part time.

She said: “We’re one of the best performing colleges in the country at the moment.

“I think we can always do more. We had over 500 students go on to university this year, but we should do more. The 16-18-year-old population is expanding and I want students to come here, because some travel out of area for sixth form and they don’t need to. There’s good provision here in Swindon.”

Asked what success would look like, Mrs Kitching said: “A really vibrant high performing sixth form, where students are not just getting the A-levels they need, but there’s a very high percentage of students getting high grades and there’s a high proportion of students going on to aspirational universities

“We have a number of students who do that already, but I think there should be more. It’s about working with our teachers and parents and obviously the students themselves to push them further than they thought they could go.”

The government’s apprenticeship levy, which sees companies with a wage bill of more than £3m a year set aside a percentage to fund apprentice training, offered an opportunity of the college. Mrs Kitching said: “Employers are quite keen to do it, but I think they find the bureaucracy a bit daunting. I want to make sure the college is making that as easy as possible for them.

“We have a lot of specialisms around IT and digital skills, we do a lot of work around health and social care and quite a lot of work in the creative industries. And, like most decent colleges, we do a lot on business administration.

“And apprenticeship is quite a good route for employers and a good route for young people as well, particularly where they’re getting professional qualifications.”

The college is developing degree-level apprenticeships, with students given a foundation degree after two years’ study and work and a BSc after a further year. Three courses will begin in September, offering qualifications in cyber security, health and social care, and sports coaching.

“One of my big ambitions is to develop higher education,” said the new principal.